Tisbury town administrator Jay Grande announced that he plans to retire next spring, after more than a decade serving at the top of town hall.
Grande confirmed his plans to The Times last week, noting that he’s in his 60s and it’s his time.
“I’ve had a very good run,” he told The Times. “The town has been extremely good to me, including town officials and residents. It’s been a positive experience.”
With the news, town officials in Tisbury are starting the process of finding Grande’s replacement, which includes updating the town’s bylaws. And they aren’t the only municipality on the Island that will be on the lookout for a replacement for a top official.
Three principals at Island schools have recently announced they will be stepping down; at least two directors at Island senior centers will or have recently retired, and a number of longtime serving select board members across the Island have recently stepped down, making way for newer and younger generations. Island officials say that it’s not indicative of a concerning movement, but more that an older generation is stepping away from public service.
In Tisbury, Grande has been the town administrator for 11-plus years; his contract expires in March 2025, and he doesn’t plan to renew.
“Jay is extremely knowledgeable about municipal affairs. He was great. He is great,” select board member John Cahill told The Times. “The fact that he lasted 11 years is a testimony to his value. He had to deal with an evolving select board that was almost like musical chairs.”
Asked what he plans to do after retirement, Grande says he has several skills that could be beneficial to Tisbury and to other Island towns. He plans to continue living in Tisbury.
Grande told The Times that he made the announcement nearly a year from the date of his retirement to give the town ample time to review the job description and find his replacement.
Asked if there was a concerning trend of longtime top municipal officials and select board members stepping down, some Island officials say the trend is more random, and a reflection of the older generation stepping aside.
“It’s more coincidental,” Cahill said. “It’s always good to bring in new people. In a select board position, more consistency is good, and that’s what the older generation can bring.”
Jim Malkin, a member of the Chilmark select board — where two long-term select board members stepped down over the past year, and where the school’s principal decided to retire — says that while there is a common concern among Islanders that the Vineyard is sinking under the weight of money, the recent change of the guard is not a reflection of this wider fear. Malkin said it’s more reflective of the age of those stepping down.
Malkin said there is still wide support for preserving the character of each individual Island town, evidenced in recent debates for select board. And he notes that there is still wide support for year-round Islanders, evidenced in public backing for a real estate transfer fee, public funding for the Island hospital, and private donations that go to assisting the older generation and to year-round residents.
He did note, though, that with a new generation coming into top positions, there is a shift away from the old Vineyard way.
“Things were done on a handshake,” he said.” You can’t do that anymore, because of the threat of getting sued.”
He said that there are down sides to seeing the disappearance of the old Vineyard way, but at the same, there is an up side. “It’s good that we are enforcing building code and zoning code.”
At their Wednesday meeting, the select board appointed Rick Homans, Deborah Medders, and Jeff Kristal to a Tisbury town administrator task force to review inconsistencies between town bylaws and the job description for Grande’s role.
The decision correlates with the unveiling of Tisbury’s master plan on Monday. To better carry out the plan, the town has considered changing its town administrator position, possibly to a town manager, which would give the hire more authority over personnel and budget decisions.
Homans, also on the town master plan steering committee, told the board that the current job description is seriously inconsistent with town bylaws, and that these issues should be addressed before the town looks for Grande’s replacement.
“As one example,” Homans told the board, “the finance director and the finance team [are] hired by and report to the select board. But in the job description, the town administrator is responsible for the financial affairs of the town in itself.”
Homans told the select board that the town is looking into hiring a consultant, and that by August, the task force will bring the select board a draft of the administrator job description, along with bylaw amendments to fix inconsistencies.
In September, the task force will propose amendments to the select board before sending them to voters for approval in October. Homans added that the amendments could be altered at town meeting to further align with the job description.
If voters approve the amendments, Homans said, common practice would be to send them to the state legislature as a special act.
“We feel like if we can get to a point where we have consistency between the bylaws and the job description, and clarity with that job description, then we’ll be in a much better position to go out into the market and do a search for the best possible town administrator that we can find for the town of Tisbury,” Homans added.
A description of the task force obtained by The Times further details the need to review top officials’ roles, especially as master planning progresses.
“An updated [town administrator] job description and amended bylaws would delineate the select board as the town’s key policymaking board, with the town administrator in charge of policy implementation, including personnel, fiscal affairs, procurement, and facilities, among other duties. Within this relationship between the select board and town administrator, checks and balances can be built in for key decisions,” reads the document.
The document adds that Tisbury is one of 88 Massachusetts towns where the chief administrator officer’s role and authorities are defined solely in a job description approved by the select board. It adds that the lack of a codified job description can cause problems, including confusion about the office’s exact duties and authority, and about the town’s reporting lines of accountability.
Hayley Duffy and Daniel Greenman contributed to this report.
